Category Archives: online publishing

The Traffic Bubble

February 13, 2011 – 7:09 pm

TweetThe new high tech-bubble might not be the one you’re thinking of. Measuring the bubble’s size and inner pressure of is a delicate exercise. For today, we’ll consider two sectors: social networks and online media — such as the Huffington Post acquired last week by AOL for a stunning $315m. In the valuation game, social [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in journalism | Tagged | Comments (18)

Tear down this PDF

February 7, 2011 – 12:33 pm

TweetThe PDF document format is digital publishing’s worst enemy. For a large part, the news industry still relies on this 18-year-old format to sell its content online. PDF is to e-publishing what the steam locomotive is to the high-speed train. In our business, progress is called XML and HTML5. Picture today’s smartphone reading experience. We’ll [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in mobile internet, newspapers | Comments (29)

Ongo… where?

January 30, 2011 – 9:16 pm

TweetOngo is an ambitious digital kiosk. Launched last week, it was founded last year by Alex Kazim, a high-tech executive who worked at Ebay, Skype and PayPal. Kazim lined up an impressive group of investors: Gannett, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the venture capital firm Elevation Partners whose portfolio includes Facebook, Yelp [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in newspapers | Comments (14)

Apple’s bet on publishing

January 23, 2011 – 8:45 pm

TweetApple’s upcoming subscription plan is making large publishing companies hysterical. Rightfully so. Some of them built a complete business model for the iPad based on a commercial agreement that is now being revoked. Apple is not only changing the rules, but it does so in the worst possible way — in their usual cold My [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Tagged | Comments (93)

iPad publishing: time to switch to v2.0

January 2, 2011 – 7:07 pm

TweetThere is no way around this fact: the first batch of magazines adapted to the iPad failed to deliver. Six months after the initial excitement, the mood has turned turned sour. See the figures below, they show the downturn in circulation for the much publicized iPad versions of a few American magazines: – Wired: 100,000 [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in mobile internet | Tagged | Comments (82)

Rebooting Web Publishing Design

December 19, 2010 – 6:47 pm

TweetLet’s start by reviewing the basic ingredients of a successful online publishing operation: 1 / Quick load. 2 / Ease of operation and update 3 / Consistent visual identity 4 / Platform independence 5 / Open to the rest of the web 6 / Geared for transactions 7 / CRM and marketing-friendly Why am I [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in mobile internet | Comments (21)

Key Success Factors for a tablet-only “paper”

November 29, 2010 – 12:16 am

TweetCan it fly? Last week, Rupert Murdoch announced he was plotting a tablet-only newspaper. Or rather, an iPad-only paper — at first; other tablets would follow. The Daily, as it is to be called (how modest and innovative) is to be blessed by Steve Jobs Himself at a media event introducing the new venture. Initially, [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in newspapers | Comments (15)

Ebooks Winners & Losers

November 14, 2010 – 11:36 pm

TweetLet’s come back to the ebook with more questions. There is no doubt: the digital book will find its place under the sun; its prospects look much better than those of the online press. In the first place, there isn’t an ingrained, now decade-old, habit of reading news for free on the internet. Second, the [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Tagged | Comments (14)

ebooks: trading digital rights, not files

November 8, 2010 – 12:41 am

TweetThere are many reasons to be bullish for ebooks. On the device side, the iPad set the standard (rather high) and triggered an intense competition among manufacturers and operating systems providers. On the people side, just take New York’s subway, or a high-speed train in Europe. And we’ve seen nothing yet: tablets prices will go [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Tagged | Comments (18)

Expanding Into New Territories

October 24, 2010 – 9:34 pm

TweetIn defining business strategies for modern medias such as online newspapers, the most difficult part is finding the right combination of revenue streams. Advertising, pay-per-view, flat fee… All are part of the new spectrum media companies now have to deal with. The gamut looks like this: As we can see, newspapers mostly consist of one [...]

Edited by Frédéric Filloux | Also posted in advertising, newspapers | Tagged | Comments (24)